Texas Beyond History

Upper Nasoni

WPA Excavations

Workers from the University of Texas-WPA project
uncovering structural remains on mound platform at the Hatchel site.
The concentric arcs are alignments of postholes; the large hole
at left, center, of photo may have been a hearth.

Temple mound, as shown in the Teran
expedition map of Upper Nasoni village.

Schematic cross-section (north-south)
through mound.

WPA crew excavating through mound.

Structural remains of large buildings
on east end of first mound platform.

WPA plan of buildings and other features
on first mound platform.

Structural remains on mound platform.
Concentric arcs of postholes represent northern portions
of three large buildings on mound platform.

Reconstruction of pre-mound buildings,
as visualized by artist Charles Shaw.

East-west cross-section through middle
of mound showing flat top of original mound and later
addition.

North-south cross-section through
middle of mound showing flat top of original mound.

Village excavations by WPA. Work
during this phase was directed by A. M. Woolsey.

Large village excavation by WPA.

Small cemetery in village residential
area, with three graves shown following excavation.

Pottery from early interments.

Pottery from early interments.

Bald eagle burial uncovered on first
mound platform.

Ceramic duck head from effigy vessel.

Early style ceramic pipe, Red River
type.

In 1938, archeologists from the University of
Texas-Works Progress Administration (WPA) project began excavation
on a massive mound on the East Texas farm of Mr. and Mrs.
A.J. Hatchel. The couple were accustomed to living in the
looming shadow of the mound, but they were curious about its
derivationit was clearly a man-made structure, its age
and purpose unknown.

Several years previously, pioneer Texas archeologist
A.T. Jackson of UT had visited the site and conducted test
excavations on the Hatchel mound. He also investigated graves
that had been disturbed during levee construction on the nearby
Mitchell site; during the course of his work, he uncovered
four more graves in the yard area of the Mitchell farm. In
the next year, 21 more graves were excavated by other individuals.
Other Caddo sites, such as Foster, contained mounds with numerous
graves, and these locales were thought to be special cemeteries.
While there had been no indications of interments in the Hatchel
mound, it was nonetheless becoming clear that the Hatchel-Mitchell
area held the potential to be one of the largest and most
significant Caddoan archeological sites in Texas.

For the WPA investigators, the task was daunting,
but the crews were willing and numerous at a time when jobs
were scarce. Leading the fieldwork were William C. Beatty,
Jr., Glenn Martin, Arthur M. Woolsey, and Alden Hayes. Initial
focus was on the mound area although, during the yearlong
venture, the crews excavated broad areas adjacent to the site
as well.

As workers painstakingly excavated through the
center of the mound, its complex anatomy became more apparent.
At least eight superimposed occupational surfaceseach
showing signs of structures, other features, and occupational
debriswere visible as discrete layers in the deep trench
profiles. As excavators continued digging, they found four
graves and a pit where two bald eagles had been interred.
Finally, at the base of the moundon what was termed
the "pre-mound" surfaceinvestigators found
the outline of a large circular structure. In the months-long
process, they had combed through layer after layer of history,
documenting what proved to be an astonishing chronicle of
the mound's creation.

Sometime around A.D. 1200, the inhabitants
of a village at the Great Bend of the Red River built a least
one large thatch-covered structure. How the structure was
used is unknown, but we know it was built at what was then
ground level (by "pre-mound peoples"). At some later
point in time, that structure and other remains were covered
over by the erection of the first mound platform. The classic
Caddo mound-building traditionwith attendant pageantry
and customswas in full sway. In the centuries to come,
other mound-building episodes were to followfully eight
in all, based on the layers in the mound fill observed by
investigators.

Given the size of the moundabout 200 feet
long by 145 feet wide and eventually reaching as high as 25
feetthe labor involved in each construction episode
must have been staggering. Basketload after basketload of
dirt was carried in by the villagers until, finally, a sufficient
height was reached. For the initial mound platform, this may
have been from eight to ten feet. Once completed, the mound
was leveled off in preparation for the next step: the erection
of one or more large circular, bee-hive-shaped structures
at the very top of the mound. With low vertical sides, the
buildings appeared to have a separate pitched roof, unlike
those at other mound sites such as the Davis site.

These special structures were used for an unknown
period of timeperhaps as the dwelling and ceremonial
places of a special religious leader. Then, the evidence tells
us, these structures were burned. Some speculate that the
firing of the special structures marked the death of the individuals
who used them, perhaps chiefs or religious leaders. But once
the structures had been burned, the rebuilding process began
anew, and the cycle was repeated at least seven times
as structures were built, fired, mounded over, and then renewed
again. Over time, the proportions of the mound reached enormous
heights. The mound in the Upper Nasoni village, marked as
"Temple" on the Teran expedition map was described
by European explorers as dominating the landscape like a small
hill.

WPA excavators also investigated remains of
the village areas of the Upper Nasoni. Adjacent to the mound,
workers uncovered remains of dwellings as well as several
interments. At the nearby Mitchell site, workers found 50
graves, along with midden deposits and the possible remnants
of a large structure. Although archeologists also found the
graves of four individuals within the Hatchel mound fill,
it was not believed to be a burial mound, but, rather, a temple
mound.

Archeological evidence generated by the WPA
excavations showed an almost 800-year occupation at the site.
An array of materials provides a glimpse of Caddo lifewaysboth
on a day-to-to basis as well as in ceremony. Among the artifacts
are artfully decorated vesselsthe trappings of rituals
and burial offeringsas well as more utilitarian pots,
such as those that might have been used to cook simple corn
and bean stews. Ornate jewelry of bone and shell as well as
ceramic pipes were found, along with the more-mundane chipped
stone and pottery tools needed for hunting and farming and
domestic life: arrowpoints and adzes, the milling stones used
by the Caddo women to grind corn and nuts, spindle whorls
and pottery smoothing pebbles, each with a simple beauty all
its own.

Among the pottery remains, a large number of
whole vessels were recovered. In studying and sequencing their
shapes and design motifs, researchers were able to develop
a chronological pottery style sequence for mid-to late Caddo
periods in the local area. However, so enormous is the full
collection of artifacts and documents that an analysis and
report on the Hatchel-Mitchell-Moores complex has yet to be
undertaken.

The photos and maps shown here are from the
1938 WPA investigations; these are housed, along with associated
field notes and documents, at TARL. Only a few of the artifacts
recovered are displayed here although future plans call for
an expanded gallery of these fascinating objects as well as
additional sections on the archeology and history of the Upper
Nasoni village.

Temple on top of mound (side view) circa 1690, as drawn by artist Charles Shaw.

Remains of very large building, with
arc-shaped internal partition, beneath west end of mound.

Reconstruction of buildings on first
mound platform by artist Charles Shaw. Unlike structures
at sites such as Davis, the buildings atop the Hatchel
mound had low vertical walls with pitched roofs apparently
attached separately.

Restricted access building on first
mound platform. Circle of postholes on left may be a
wall enclosing the entrance to a special structure.

WPA crew at work on village excavations.

Structural postholes in residential
areas being examined by WPA crew. Postholes probably
represent one or more buildings as well as remadas for
shelter, and elevated granaries.

Early interments at Mitchell site.
The cemetery was in one of the village residential areas
occupied over many generations.